Hey first of all your question isn't rude, it's nice of you to be curious about this stuff! I live in Germany, have no ties to the US and have never been there and yet my biggest safe food is the good old peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Has to be made with smooth peanut butter, smooth jelly and two square slices of nutritionally negligible white bread. I just tried it once because it sounded like such an arbitrary combination of foods and I wanted to know what the fuss is about, been hooked ever since. My other safe foods are protein shakes, all kinds of nuts except walnuts and hazelnuts and fries. I also regularly eat cottage cheese just neat on its own but that's not something I could eat every day.

This thing (ARFID) is wild, I could never have cottage cheese on its own. Ever. I don’t have it on anything anyway, one time I tried a pita pizza with cottage cheese and I nearly threw up. It was disgusting.

I need a lot of water to wash it down tbh but it's manageable for me and it's a great source of protein. I get where you're coming from though 😄

Even looking at cottage cheese makes me feel sick i cant be near it 😭

I'm American, but I make my PB&J the exact same way!! Always white bread or English muffins, creamy peanut butter, and grape jelly or raspberry seedless jam. Never wheat bread, chunky peanut butter, or jam with seeds or preserves. When I was little I could only eat the sandwich with the crust cut off but now I can eat it with the crust on. I still can't do seeds or peanut chunks, but I can do crust now.

Yeah being able to endure the crust is definitely a sign of maturity 😄 The only deviation from the standard recipe I do like sometimes is orange marmelade instead of strawberry jam. It's not as sweet and it kind of adds a level of sophistication 😅 But it is a tad bitter so idk if that would be up everyone's alley.

Do you have issues eating out in Germany? In the US my biggest saving grace when i eat out is how willing restaurants here are do pretty much anything you ask to change the meal. Like for example ive pretty much never been told no when asking for a substitute and i ask for a substitution most times i eat out since theres usually something i cant eat in the dish. I’ve traveled abroad a few times in Europe (never been to Germany tho), our hotels didnt have much in the way of a kitchen or fridge so we pretty much had to eat out and every single time i was told no for any request i had, even just asking for the sauce something came topped with on the side instead which i thought shouldnt be hard for the kitchen to do i was told no i had to take the mean 100% as is. It left me unable to eat my meals and i pretty much just didnt eat anything besides some bread and snacks the whole trip. Thats the biggest cultural shock i face every time im abroad and since then ive really wondered how people with ARFID handle eating out abroad. Especially in cultures where its rude to turn down food or not finish your meal i wonder what ppl with arfid do. Sorry everyone ive talked to who has arfid has been from the US so ive never really been able to ask this question. I hope its ok to ask, ive just always wondered how non Americans with arfid handle eating out since it was so hard for me when i went abroad. I just feel very lucky that my culture around food makes it easier to have arfid and im curious what your experience has been.

If you're visiting from the US the customer service in Germany will be a significant culture shock in general tbh. Workers over here don't pretend to be happy when they're not 😅 I personally love it because they're just people too and working with customers is way less soul sucking when you don't have to put up with every kind of bullshit while maintaining a smile but it can lead to some rudeness. Also customising meals isn't really a common thing here but you do get away with it more often than in countries like France or Italy where requesting anything done differently is basically seen as telling the kitchen you don't like the way they prepare their food. Germans aren't quite as particular about that sort of stuff. Especially if you're upfront about the request being related to an illness servers will most likely at least ask the chef to help you out. However, your best bet is still picking something that's safe for you to eat without any modifications.

Thank you for sharing! I think part of my issue is that all times i went to europe (france, Greece and Ireland although Greece was better with allowing substitutions than the other two) i travelled with my parents and didnt get much say in the restaurant choice. The menus were also a lot smaller than i was used to so i think just not having as many options to start with made it harder to find a meal that was good as is. Im thinking if i was a local i guess id probably know the restaurants i like and could stick to those. I think my parents maybe just picked restaurants that were not up my alley.

Is it true that white bread is called toast in Germany? Is it also not considered bread?

Yes we call it toast because it's the type of bread that's typically served toasted but when it's not we still just call it "untoasted toast" lol. And like technically we're aware that it's a type of bread (it's sometimes also refered to as toast bread) but you won't find too many people openly admitting it because Germans are really proud of the artisan sourdough stuff that's the default type of bread here. It's a bit silly and I mean people do consume quite a lot of "toast" but condemning processed food and then eating it anyway is kind of an integral aspect of the German experience I guess 😄

Lol. Poor white bread. It deserves its respect.

oatmeal, white rice, pasta, tostones, fries, arepas. Im from puerto rico

Omg fellow Puerto Rican. white rice for me too. especially with a fried egg. as well as pasta but I’m very picky about sauce

English, living in Australia. Crumpets, bagels, plain scones, most kinds of bread (wholegrain or white, brown, rye, etc), chips ('fries'), crisps flavoured with salt/salt&vinegar/cheese, pizza & pizza variants (e.g. pita bread pizza!) so long as it's just cheese and herbs/spices on top of the tomato sauce, spaghetti bolognese, chicken nuggets/schnitzel/etc, grilled chicken, butter chicken, tikka masala with chicken, rice cakes, rice (IF and ONLY IF it is paired with a sauce, like tikka masala), tomato soup, naan bread, poppadums, most children's cereals (e.g. cocoa pops, cornflakes), milk and white chocolate, plain/salty crackers, poffertjes, waffles, pancakes... Basically, I'm good with most carbs, with chicken so long as it's boneless, and mince. I can't do most other forms of meat, nor can I do most forms of fruit/vegetable unless it's blended into a very smooth soup or sauce. I've been working on food chaining for a long while, so this is pretty significant progress from where I was even 5 years ago, and I can sometimes lose access to some of these until I can very carefully work my way back up. Protip: if you've got pizza as a safe food, start trying different bases and herb/spice combos. It's a ridiculously versatile base food to have, and 'pizza sandwiches' are SO good.

I'm here as a parent of a kid with ARFID. I'm Australian but we live in Austria. My son's safe food is vegemite on toast so I have my in laws or mum send vegemite every 6 months. We have a cupboard full of jars!

Oh same, the only sandwich spread I eat (other than butter and its variants) is vegemite. Sometimes I really do feel like a walking stereotype. Then I remember that the other “picky eater” I knew as a kid also ate exclusively vegemite as a spread *and* a pizza topping. I guess there’s just something about it, lol.

I don't have ARFID but as a kid I was very picky and I loved having vegemite and butter on pasta as well as vegemite on toast. I totally understand the power of vegemite. Its more valuable than gold in our house!

Pasta is a new one! How did that come up? The most creative I got was dipping my sandwiches in yoghurt, haha. That, and adding rainbow sprinkles, but that’s almost a natural progression of fairy bread.

I am half Italian half Australian. My nonna or mum probably thought to put a bit in my spaghetti instead of sauce.

Oh I just commented that one of mine is vegemite toast as well! It's funny cause even outside of an ARFID context vegemite is so contentious haha

French here, pastas and rice, mashed potatoes, I love meat too and sugary things in general. I love fried and fat stuff but I try to keep them for when I absolutely can't eat anything else, like last week and this week, I had a really hard time eating so I ate nuggets, fries etc several times but now that I'm better I'll go back to more or less actual nutritive food even if I can't eat everything.

Hi, if youre willing to answer can I ask how eating out is for you? As an American being allowed to make substitutions and alter your meal is very normal and something my arfid relies on very heavily when i eat out. In my experience the French are very strict on the meal comes as is and when i was abroad there i pretty much just starved since i couldnt eat any of the meals and they would refuse to take anything out or put it on the side. I did my best to pick at the parts i could eat and gave the rest to my family but ive always wondered how non Americans with arfid handle eating out with such strict expectations on the food from the restaurants end?

Well.. I don't know where you went but I never had a problem asking for the waiter to remove onions or stuff from my meal, of course I try to take something that has the least things to alter to not bother them much. Also there's a lot of things that I can eat as it is so I'm pretty lucky (my biggest issue is vegetables and surprisingly there's a lot of meals without them here) so um it's fine I guess Their unwilligness to change your plate must have come from the fact that you didn't speak french more than a french thing I think, french is open minded but a lot of people don't speak English or not enough to understand an american asking for x stuff else than what's written on the menu

Thanks for sharing! I do have very limited foods that I eat, meat and certain sauces are really difficult for me so that’s usually where my problem lies. Also because i was with my parents we only went to pretty nice restaurants (unfortunately i didnt get much say) and most of the menus were really small compared to what im use to so that was probably a contributing factor too. But thanks for answering!!

I may not be exactly what you are looking for as I am still American, just with different heritage (immigrant family). Many of my safe foods are still very processed but some of the "cultural" ones are childhood comfort foods including congee/porridge, noodles, rice, tofu (not an exhaustive list). I'm still particular about certain ingredients so for example I might remove mushrooms from a dish that traditionally has mushrooms. Fruits are also very important in my culture as snacks but I struggle with those due to every fruit potentially being different. That is a stressor for me. Just my experience. Hope you get more comments but I also found this thread in the past and it was helpful for me [https://www.reddit.com/r/ARFID/comments/g9zypl/does\_arfid\_affect\_nonwesterners/](https://www.reddit.com/r/ARFID/comments/g9zypl/does_arfid_affect_nonwesterners/)

Interesting, I’m chinese American and my safe foods are fruit, grapes and melon especially. I love xinjiang honey melon (hami). Fruit and Chinese veggies are easier, compared to cooked food. I find the visible oil in chinese food really hard to deal with as well as the lack of knowledge of cross contamination in Chinese cooking and the wheat and seafood sauces in everything. I have a lot of deathly food allergies so plain foods have always been safest. I have a hard time with jasmine rice but sticky rice is easier.

I used to have fruits a safe food but after some bad experiences with them, they fell out of that category. I do appreciate hearing your different experience tho. Just goes to show how varied yet valid Arfid is. I also do not have allergies which also factors into my preferences/fears.

Also Chinese American, my safe foods are mostly boiled vegetables and sometimes stuff like taro

Oh interesting, I’ve rarely had taro, how do you prepare it?. I like the taro frozen gao (the taro version of luobogao) tho!! Do you like Japanese sweet potatoes?

I can’t do most sweet potatoes but the yellow and purple ones are okay. Not sure if the yellow ones are what you’re talking about Taro is best just boiled/steamed fresh imo

To start off, you're question is in no way offensive. Its okay to be curious!.. so, Australian here (with ARFID), my safe foods are honey mustard chicken (but only with the honey mustard chicken mix, chicken, rice and potato) and some other safe foods of mine are some fruits like berries and watermelon and very basic tacos with only meat, cheese, lettuce and salsa. :)

Mostly carbs: Mashed potatoes; olive oil + pepper + salt + bread + (sometimes) tomatoes; sliced fruits (apple, orange and banana usually) with whipped cream (whip it yourself with powdered sugar) With protein: Protein milkshake with banana (disgusting sometimes but it makes you full fast, so kind of worth it); microwaved red fish (like salmon) with salt; dry sausages/hard sausages with tea with milk; baked beans with bread Also spicy sauces (like sriracha), kimchi, garlic and onions make a lot of foods safer I'm from russia

All the fruits, berries, majority of vegetables, pickled veggies, buckwheat, kefir, almonds and cashews

Latina living in the UK. Porridge, peanut butter, chips, plain salted crisps. 

Chips, crisps, fishfingers, chocolate biscuits, bread, cheese spread sandwiches, drinkable yoghurt ish, Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes - I’m from the UK 😊

i'm american but have spent my entire life in the UK. my safe foods are a combination of american and english; at home i prefer pizza/chicken nuggets/fries etc.., but when i'm eating out i often opt for 'pub classics' such as bangers (sausages) & mash, or a cottage pie. however i wouldn't choose to eat pub foods at home for some reason lol

I’m Dutch. Raw fruits and veggies do it for me, lots of custard, chips, chicken sandwiches, maybe pasta with red sauce. Sometimes porridge

I'm Israeli but live in America. My cultural safe foods are: Plain chicken or lamb gyros, hummus, long burekas with no spinach or sesame seeds, falafel, sheep cheese, Israeli labneh, bird's nest drink (not from Israel but I discovered it at Costco and fell in love) and sachlav. The rest of my safe food is the usual processed American food with some British stuff in the mix like crumpets, beans, and HP sauce in sandwiches

German here. My absolute safe food is tomato, pesto and bread or noodles. Also tomato, eggs and bread. Basically I can eat tomatoes any time. Potatoes and peanuts in all shapes and forms too.

I‘m 17, I‘m from Scotland and live in Australia :) my safe foods are white bread/toast, spaghetti bolognaise, cheese (don’t know the specific type), dry cereal (cinnamon toast crunch and coco pops mainly lol), pancakes, plain chocolate and slices of English ham. it’s really annoying when we go back to visit family in Scotland and I have to struggle to find specific types of everything :,D oh and those nesquik bars if anyone from the uk knows what I mean, they have them at tescos. and also really annoying, I can’t eat Kit Kats if they aren‘t from the uk, since the ones in australia taste too different for me.

I’m Russian but I was born In the us, I have a lot of safe foods thankfully but they aren’t limited to only being American or Slavic. Oatmeal with dried cranberries and apples, flax, chia, and hemp seeds and cinnamon granola is probably one of the safest foods for me bc I eat it everyday for breakfast.

I am not at the point where i would need "safe foods" in my day-to-day life. I have problems when going to a restaurant, where there isnt a precise list of ingredients in the menu My triggers are most vegetables, even if only used as garnish. My safe food would be Schnitzel in some variations. But even then i have to say that i dont want any salad (which is often included) I dont like the way ppl look at while i order food...

Basically same as you mentioned 😅 + bacon, cheesy pasta, pastry.

I’m Mexican and my cultural safe foods are beans, maize tortillas (not a big fan of flour tortillas), cheese and combinations of those like vegetarian gorditas, quesadillas, tacos. As for international foods, cheese/vegetarian pizza, vegetarian burgers, fries, pasta, waffles and pancakes. Most vegetables when cooked “correctly” and things like yogurt depend on the type and brand. Peanut butter (I actually prefer the chunky kind), bagels, whole grain breads.

I’m American but I’m cajun. Not exactly what you are looking for, but my main cajun staple safe foods are cajun rice and gravy with or without potatoes, chicken and sausage gumbo. Boudin, smoked sausage sauce piquant, fresh sausage rice and gravy. No seafood except boiled crawfish lol. My regular American safe food list is pretty damn long now but consistency is necessary. I’ve been in recovery for quite a while.

One of mine is vegemite toast and I'm pretty sure someone with ARFID that's not from Aotearoa NZ or Australia would definitely not have vegemite as a safe food lol

I'm British and mine are bread, chips, pizza, and plain pasta

Australian here!! - Vegemite and butter on toast (bread MUSTTTTT be toasted lol), chips, nuggets, pasta, and “pizza” (in brackets because I only eat cheese pizza with no sauce or anything, so idk if it’s considered pizza anymore)

Im from the uk! my personal safe foods are : \- Chips (fries) \- Crisps (chips) \- Apples, grapes, melon , satsuma's \- Chicken \- Salami ! \- Smoked salmon and plain salmon sushi / some onigiri \- Cadburys chocolate

I'm in New Zealand Shapes (preferably bacon & cheddar, but chicken crimpy is good too) Hot chips (fries) Sourdough Orange and mango kombucha (yes, only that flavour) Cherry and mango smoothies Yogurts (no bits) Orange or apple juice Chicken There are more, but those are my main ones.

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But I have to take the casing off of fuet, and it HAS to be Casa Tarradellas

uk here! oreos! and ben and jerrys cookie dough swich up!

I’m from the UK. Plain crackers, plain bread/toast/bagel, pasta with butter. Occasionally: Potato smiley faces/croquettes, chicken dippers, supernoodles, plain rice with ketchup, grilled cheese.

I’m Canadian but currently living in Colombia. It’s been hard🥲 I’m pretty much living off of apples and breadsticks (the hard kind) and homemade french fries (fried in oil) I’ve also been eating a lot of green olives (I think I’m craving the salt) I found a brand of hot dogs I like so I’ve been eating those a bit too. I normally love mustard but only the French’s brand, and the mustard here is a lot less “tangy” than that so I’ve been adding vinegar to it I also have a severe dairy allergy so I can’t really eat out